DRUG TREATMENT DESERVES FUNDS

Wider Use Of Prison Program May Reduce The Need For More Prisons.

A state Legislature deservedly criticized for its sometimes myopic views on
prisons has wisely committed to adding more beds to a successful drug
treatment program within the state Department of Corrections. It's an
encouraging sign that lawmakers are finally getting serious about finding
and funding effective strategies to cut this state's prison population.

Increasingly, prisons have become a drain on a stagnant, overcommitted
state budget.

A close inspection of the prison population reveals an inextricable link
between drug use and prison time among a group of inmates who, absent their
addictions, do not pose a significant threat to society. This identifiable
group of otherwise nonviolent offenders should not remain a drain on the
system.

It would be much more beneficial to this state if those inmates were
working, productive members of society. This program has proven it can
provide those prisoners the coping skills they need to kick addiction and
not return to prison.

An astounding 78 percent of the program's graduates have not returned to
prison, according to a three-year study of the inmates who've participated.
This success rate is especially noteworthy against the 68 percent
recidivism rate of the general prison population. That means more than two
in three inmates released wind up returning to crime.

So it makes sense to give drug counseling to those inmates who possess the
background and character traits that make them receptive to treatment.

This state will spend about $370 million on Corrections, which breaks out
to about $17,000 to house, clothe and feed a single inmate for a year.
Despite a shrinking state budget, the state is still adding prison beds --
likely about 1,000 this year.

The Legislature is acknowledging, if not aloud, that treatment works and is
worthy of more funding. Such programs are much more cost-effective. And it
simply makes more sense to allow an inmate earnestly invested in
rehabilitation to take advantage of drug treatment, serve a shorter
sentence and leave the system.

To keep adding prison beds is not in our long-term best interest. The
savings realized could be better used to offset cuts in Medicaid, mental
health and higher education, just to name a few of many underfunded state
commitments.